Spring bumper



May 15, 11923. www@ E. G. DANN SPRING BUMPER F'iled Dec. '7, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet lV 'Il j@ Y@ #H INVENTOR v @Qa ATTORNEM4 May 115, 1923.

E. G. DANN SPRING BUMPER Filed Dec. '7. 1922 Z-Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. azzze' ff/75S BY 0% ATTORNEYS manica May 15,1923.

insana ica.

srnme BER.

Application @lied December 7, 1922. Serial No. 605,494.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ERNEST G. DANN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, county -of Cook, and State of 5 Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Spring Bumpers, of which the following is a specification, the principle of the invention being herein explained, .and

the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle, soas to distinguish it from other lnventlons.

This invention comprises aspring bumper and is of the type especially adapted for motor vehicles. More particularly it relates to a bumper wherein a plurality of impact bars of spring material are associated with supporting elements of spring material and adapted to be secured to the ends ofv the frame of an automobile or its associated 20 membersl by means. of bracket members of spring material. Thus the entire bumper and its supports are made of spring material.

Spring bum ers, as heretofore constructed, have usual y included members of considerable length, not infrequently, the means of attachment to the automobile and the impact members being integral spring elements suitably shaped to perform the several functions. In other instances such members have 3o been so shaped that by uniting several of them by means of sprlng clips `a complete bumper would be provided.A With such constructions, however, there has usually been the necessity of having special machinery to form a number of different parts to be later assembled, and theuse of spring members of great length and of peculiar form has made '50 compact knockdown form and later assem-A bled by using a number of identically shaped elements. It is also an object of. my inven-I tion to provide supporting pointsfor the. bumper so `distributed t at material of lighter gauge lmay be used and wherein-the degree of resistance to impact and permanentdeformation will be superior to that of bumpers embodying a larger amount of ma' terial. It is a further object of my invention to provide a bumper having two unit sec-I tions joined centrally by means of a pivotal connection whereby shocks sustained by one of rthe bumper sections will be distributed ythrough the several` members of the other particularly ointed out in the claims.

The accompanying drawing and thel following description set forth in detail certain mechanism embodying the. invention, such disclosed means constituting, however, but one of various structural forms in which theV 4 is a transverse sectional detail Yview taken along the line 4-4shown in Fig. 3, looking in. the direction of the arrows; Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a modified form of my device wherein reinforced impact plates are employed; Fig. 6 is a top plan view thereof; Fig. 7 'is a front elevation of a modied form of my device wherein the central plate is recessed to receive the inner ends of the respective supportin and impact bars; Fig. 8 is a top plan view thereof; Fig. 9 is a transversedetail sectional view showing a L7o a of the means hereinafter fully described and modified form of the structure illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4;,Fig. 10 is a detail side elevation of a modified form of supporting bracket, and Fig. 11 is a sectional view of the central plate and associated parts of the type of bumper illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, ta en along the line 11-11 shown in Fig, 6.

As is clearly/,shown in Fig 1 of the drawing, the bum er 1, is formed in two half sections 2, 3,.)oined centrally by means of a supporting late 4.' `Each section is in eect a Acomplete umper unit, havingparallel imv ,metal and is of inner ends of the res pact bars 5, 5 of spring material at its upper and lower edges'and a supporting -bar 6 of spring material positioned central y between said impact bars and bowed rearwardly-so as to be s aced from said impact bars a distance o approximately one-fourth the length of the impact bars. It is of course to be understood that any desired conformation of the severalbars may be produced, but the preferred form is that illustrated. The ends of the several bars are rolled upon themselves to provide eyes 8 through which a long pin or `bolt of suitable length is inserted. The pins 9 used at the outer ends are each provided with screw threaded ends upon which nuts or caps 11 are engaged to hold theV parts in operative relation.

The central plate 7 is formed of heavy substantial size, having rearwardly extending top and bottom flanges 12, 12 within which are supported parallel pins 13 over which are engaged the eyes at the ective bumper members in a mannersimi ar to the connections of the extremities shown at the left hand end of Fi ure 1. The inner face 14 of the central p ate in the preferred form of the construction is adapted to overlap and bear agamst the outer faces of the impact members of the bumper sections and serves to hold them lin transverse alinement with each other. Suitable fastening elements or caps 15 are secured to said pins upon the upper yand lower ends thereof whereby the same may be applied to or disengaged from the bumper elements as may be desired. The supporting spring bars 6 are preferably ro` vided with straight central sections 17 w ich serve as points of attachment tothe frame of the automobile. This connection of the bumper to the automobile is accomplished by means of a spring bracket 21 of either of the forms shown in F igs. 3, 9 and 10.v This bracket as shown in Fig. 3, comprises a spring metal section having a flat forward face 22 and curved to substantially circular outline at the rear thereof, the inner end 23 being upwardly turned to meet the front Hat face of the outer end of the spring closely adjacent the point where it merges with the curved portion whereby a recess 24 is provided between said flat front section and the other end of said spring of a size suitable to receive therein the straight portion of the supporting member of the bumper unit. A pair of alined bolt holes 25, 26 are provided in the supportin bracket adjacent the lower end of the ont face so as to permit a bolt 27 to be inserted beneath the supporting section of the bumper unit when positioned within said(` recess. The bolt may be provided with a nut 28 at one end, as shown in the drawing, or the inner of said alined bolt holes may be screw threaded to receive the screw threaded end of said A U-bolt 33 of a suitable plate 34 which may be straight or have a slightly rounded inner face, and which is designed to rest upon the :inner surfaceof the spring bracket and be rigidly pressed against the supporting block upon the tightenin of the nuts 35 upon the ends of the U-bo t. One spring bracket is provided for each unit or half section of the bumper and by shifting the circular portion of said brackets backwardl or forwardly any desired degree of ti t can be given to the bumper.

In Figs. 9 and 10 are shown `modified formsof supporting brackets, the form of bracket 41 shown 1n Fig. 3 closely resembling the form shown in Fig. 3. It comprises a spring-metal section having a flat forward portion 42, but, instead of being gradually curved to substantially circular outline adjacent said flat section, it is abrup'tly bent downwardly so as to present a second flat section 43 inclined with ,respect to said forward flat portion. Thus, thereis provided between the adjacent flat sections a restricted s ace 44 within which the inner end 45 of tiie bracket is received. This inner end of the bracket is turned upwardl as a vflat section positioned in spaced para lel relation to the flat section formed at the other end of the spring-metal strip. The base portion 46 of the bracket may also be flattened but is preferably of gently curved outline. The bracket may be secured to the top face of the end of the frame member 32 or equivalent part of an automobile by means of a U-bolt 47 of suitable size to surround the frame member and a clamping plate 48 which is designed to bear directly upon the inner face of the curved bottom section of the plate or block. If desired, a supporting plate or `block similar to that shown in Fig. 3 may be used, but where the frame end is of substantial size and downwardly tapered it is found that adequate supporting contact may be obtained' without the use of such block. The straight ortion of the supporting member of"the umper unit is adapted to be received in the space between the flat portions 42 and 45 of the bracket. The bracket is clamped into positiony by means of a bolt 49 similar to that described in connection with the type of bracket illustrated in Fig. 3.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctl claim as my invention i 1. Ih an article of the class described, the combination of two individual bumpersections, each including 'a resilient outer impact member and a separate unitar. inner supporting member and the mem ers of each section being connected together at their adjacent extremities, and means vconnecting the adjacent extremities of said two sections together.

2. Inan article of the class described, the combination of two individual bumper sec'- tions arranged end-to end, and each section including a resilient outer impact member and a separate unitary .inner supporting member, and the members of each section Kbeing connected together at their adjacent extremities to perm1t relative movement toward and away from each other, and means connecting the adjacent ends of said sections together.

3. In an article of the class described,`the combination of two individualbumper sections arranged end to end, and each section including an impact member and a supporting member mounted with their adjacent ends in pivotal engagement, and means connecting the adjacent ends of two sections together.

4. In an article of the class described, the combination of two individual bumper sections arranged end to end, and each section including a forward impact member and a separate unitary rear supporting member vhaving its ends connected to the ends of said impact. member and its body portion bowed rearwardly. away from the same, and means connectin the ad'acent connected ends of two sectlons toget er.

5. In an article of the class described, the combination of two individual bumper sections arranged end to end, and each section including a forward resilient impact member and a separate unitary rear resilient supporting member having its ends connected to the ends of said impact member and its body portion bowed rearwardly away from the same, and an intermediate element between said two bumper sections,

.1 said element being pivotally connected to the 'connected ends of the members of each of said sections. j

6. In an article of the class described, the combination of two individually complete u bumper-sections, said sections being arranged end to vend' to sp vehicle, each section consisting of a forward resilient impact member and a separate uni- 'tary rear resilient supporting member havmg lts ends connected to the ends of said impact member and its bodykportion bowed rearwardly away from the same, and means includin an e ement pivotally connected to the a jacent ends of each of said sections.

an the width of a motor- 7. In an article ofthe class described, the combination of two individually complete bumper sections, said sections being arranged end to end to span the width of a motor vehicle, and each section consisting of a forward resilient impact member of spring steel and a separate unitary rear resilient supportin member also of spring steel having its en s connected to the ends of said impact member and its body portion bowed rearwardly away from the same, and a plate pivotally connected about vertical axes'tov each of said bumper sections at Vtheir adjacent ends.

8. In an article of the class described,l the combination of two individually complete bumper sections, said sections being arranged end to-end to span the width of a motor vehicle, each section consisting of two bars of spring steel, said bars being spaced from each other throughout their body portions but pivotally connected together at their adjacent ends, supporting means fixedly and non-rotatably engagin the rearmost bar of each of said sectlons En attachment to the frame of the motor vehicle, and means connecting said two sections, said means operating to partially transmit an impact against one of said sections to the other thereof.

9. In an article of the class described, the combination of a plurality of impact bars of spring material connected lon 'tudinally in airs said pairs bein vertically spaced rom one another, `a p urality of supporting bars of s ring material each connected' at its ends with the ends of one of the imp'act bars,.and resilientI means for connecting said supporting bars with the frame of an automobile.

l0. In an article of the class described,the combination of a pluralit. of impact bars of spring material connecte longitudinally in pairs said pairs bein vertically spaced from one another, a lura ity of supporting bars of spring material each connected at its ends with the ends of one of the impact bars, and resilient means of spring material of substantially circular outline adapted to be engaged over the supporting bars of. the bumper and means for holding said circular supports in various positions upon the frame of a motor vehicle.

11. In an article of the class described, the combination of the parallel side members of a motor vehicle frame, two individually complete bumper sections, each consisting of two forward vertical] spaced but parallel impact members o spring steel and a rear supporting member also of spring steel, said rear member having its ends connected to the adjacent ends of both of said impact members, means mounted on each of said frame members, each of said means ixedly engaging one of said vsupporting members and lao mamas r thereby supporting oneV of said bumper sections and said two sections being arranged with their forward impact members in alignment, and means connecting the adja cent ends of said two sections together.

12. In an article of the class described. the combination of the parallel side members of a motor vehicle frame, two individually complete bumper sections, -each consisting of two forward vertically spaced but parallel impact members of spring steel and a rear supporting member also of spring steel, said rear member having its ends connected to the adjacent ends of both said impact members, means mounted on each of said frame members, each of said means fixedly engaging one of said supportingmembers and thereby supporting one of said bumper sections and said two sections being arranged with their forward impact members in alignment, and a plate pivotally connected to the adjacent ends of` both of said sections.

13. In an article of the class described, the combination of two individual bumper sections, each section including a resilient outer impact member and an inner supporting member, said members being connected at their adjacent extremities, a link between the inner ends of the two sections, and pivotal connections between said link and the inner ends of each member of each section. 14. In anarticle of the class described, the combination of two bumper sections, each comprising a resilient-l outer impact member and an inner supporting member, the two impactmembers extending across the front of the vehicle and being in substantial alignment to present a continuous impact surface across the entire width of thefvehicle, and the outer and inner members of each section being pivotally. connected at their outer ends, and the innervor central ends of said impact and supporting members being alsolpivotally interconnected to allow each of said bumper sections to support 'and reinforce the other thereof.

Signed by me, this 4th day of December,-

ERNEST G. DANN.` 

